Free things to do in Rome: Pantheon, city views, and piazzas! | Italy Day 9

I love this city so much already. This might not be the best one yet. That is a scary thought but very exciting thought. We're headed to Rome! So from Positano, we are taking a bus to Meta and from Meta We're taking a train to Naples and then Naples to Rome is another train And we should be there in about three and a half hours if everything goes to plan. We've heard some bad things. So wish us luck Thankfully at 10 30 p.m. Last night Adam's like, hey, don't we need bus tickets and I was like, oh crap And so he ran to this little cafe that was still open and got them. My hero We made it on the bus. Step one check We made it to Meta and now we're gonna take a train from Meta to Naples But we hear this train can get delayed sometimes and if that's the case We might be in trouble with our Naples to Rome train. So we're just gonna hope for the best It arrived on time! We have six minutes to get to the next one. This way We're gonna make it. We're gonna make it We made it with five minutes to spare. Four minutes Probably a need to run But I was a little nervous Rome here we come. No one next to us Perfect All right, we made it to Rome. We're at the Roma Termini station We just have one more train to go a little local train before we get to our Airbnb We made it Made it to our Airbnb which is a room in like a boutique hotel It's a little different than what we're used to. We have a massive bedroom But then our bathroom is just right across the hall and it's only our bathroom and it's huge and really really nice But we do have to go across the hall whenever we want to use it, but not a big deal I think I got this place for like a really good price. I don't remember. I'll link to it below But definitely worth it. It is really really nice and they're so helpful here She just gave us like a huge tour of the entire area how to get to places Which is very helpful because I kept getting us lost in all the other cities But check out the view from our room St. Peter's And the walls of the Vatican City down there Sick Our first stop is at Caffè Tassa di Oro we had two espresso shots, but this is the star of this place This is a granita They put some panna or whipped cream on the bottom and on top and then in the middle is like an icy like chocolate Yeah I love whipped cream. I could eat just bowls of whipped cream. It's so good Another cool thing about this place is we didn't know until we came out But the Pantheon is right there and i'm like blown away right now. This is so cool We're gonna go visit that in a bit. We need lunch first. We're getting a little hangry Oh my gosh I want 15 more of these but we're also getting gelato twice today And there's a maybe a chance we might get tiramisu later too This is our one full day to explore Rome with or any of the Rome or Florence without having to work So the next few days we'll be balancing working and sightseeing. So we're going big today We're doing as much as we possibly can And big on sights big on food. Yes I love this city so much already. We've been here an hour We're just walking to lunch and we're passing by this probably super old building I don't know what it is, but it's beautiful It's awesome We're at pane and salami this place has like over 7 000 reviews on tripadvisor and five stars So we had to check it out and oh my gosh We got Mixed cutting board and we got like two medium-sized ones and it comes with like this massive assortment of meat Some like bruschetta, some cheese, some jams, veggies He told us what all the stuff was but I don't remember. This is incredible. I'm so excited This is awesome. There's so much to choose from It's all super good I love this That was freaking delicious that was so good that might be one of like my favorite meals of this whole trip so far Yeah, we don't usually usually eat stuff like that. So it was different I've never had like a charcuterie board or however you say it But that was so good like it came with honey and like a jam for the cheese and the meat was all delicious There was a little bit of a wait when we got there. I think we maybe waited 15 minutes Yeah, it was super quick I think being a group of two helped our case because you share a table with others So it's easier for like two slots to open up. They work pretty quick in there though So you can get in and out pretty quick. Yeah, our food came so fast because obviously it's not like being cooked It's already like it already exists. It's all sandwiches and things like that bread and meat So yeah, and it was about 10 euros a person for the we got a medium Well, each got a medium so it's 10 euros per person plus a one dollar per person like table service fee So we paid 22 euros for all that and I feel like it was a good amount of food. It was yeah It was awesome. Highly recommend checking it out. There's a reason it's so popular. Maybe a tad touristy I feel like it was a lot of tourists in there, but I don't even care. It was so good All right, we are at the pantheon which is a temple that is built for all the gods It's super exciting to be at our first big attraction in rome. It's free to enter which is even more awesome There is quite a long line to get in but it's moving really fast and we just got in line like three minutes ago We're almost to the front. So that's pretty great Something really cool that we learned on our rick steves guide Is that since there's a hole in the top of the dome when it rains There's these holes on the floor that collect the rainwater. I just think that's super cool I didn't realize it would be open on the top, but it definitely isn't it's a pretty lower toll Another couple little cool tidbits about the pantheon that we learned from rick steves Is that the pantheon is as wide as it is tall? And then also when you're walking up to it If you take a look around the sides, you can see how much the city has built up over the last 2000 years Pretty cool to check out Our first gelato in rome we're at gelateria del teatro super cute place Their flavors looked all looked amazing and very very fresh and homemade you can see them actually making it in the back I got pistachio cream and cream almond and fig cream almond and fig and uh tiramisu And I got the pure chocolate the cream almond and fig and I got cream caramel, which sounds awesome Oh, that was I know they have tons of flavors in there too. Yeah, and they also have other sweet treats. Yeah some cannolis and things This is delicious. This is so good choking him. I'm so happy So we've learned it's very hard to vlog while eating gelato because it keeps dripping everywhere but holy crap That was the best. That was definitely my favorite of the trip so far. I agree. That was so good The pistachio was so good I've had pistachio a few times now and that was definitely my favorite one. The other flavors were so amazing Yeah, something I liked about this one, especially the the cream cheese and almond and fig one It had like chunks of stuff in it, which we like and love and all man But then another thing that made this place better for me That the the gelato was better in general, but what made it better was they had bigger cones. Yeah to catch the gelato so it's not just Dripping everywhere waffle cones. They kind of had like the little they weren't just like flat on the top They kind of yeah, they were wider on the side. So but that was delicious. I'm I'm, so excited to see other gelatos that we get to try because I don't know this may not even be the best This might not be the best one. That is a scary thought a very exciting thought So today is our designated free sites day in rome So we're just going to go check out things that are free to access We're spending a lot of money on tours the next couple days. So we're trying to keep the cost low today Yep, so we've been to the pantheon and now we're in the piazza navona Really old square that was built on the stadium of domitian It's a really just open piazza or square really beautiful. There's fountains. There's an obelisk in the middle There's like an awesome beautiful church. I think it's a church But it's just beautiful there's shops all around it's one of the main attractions of rome I believe and Unlike venice there are places to sit. Whoa There's one. There's one What a concept so if you didn't see our venice vlog, we love these things save so much money. The water's cold And it's delicious tastes really good. But then the ones in venice, we didn't I didn't notice that you can do this water fountain That's so awesome All right, so this building behind me you see that balcony right there that's where benito mussolini il duce the leader of italy During part of world war ii would give his speeches to his followers and the people of italy And then you can turn right around and you'll see the altar della patria We here if you go to the top for seven euro You can get a great view of the roman forum and parts of the other city But keeping to our theme of seeing all the free stuff we can we're going to admire from the front on the ground below Even if you just walk up all the steps at the altar de la patria you have amazing views So, I don't know if you even need to pay to go see the view from the top. The free views are pretty awesome So we've been here maybe what? Six seven hours and this this might be my new favorite city ever that i've ever been to Like everywhere you turn every corner. There's so much history There's something cool to see even like the newer buildings are just beautiful. Yeah, there's ruins everywhere. It's so cool We're walking through an area called the jewish ghetto right now, which despite the name is not ghetto It's actually an italian word. We hear this area is really cool to walk around in So we're gonna walk through here on our way to dinner something interesting about the jewish ghetto area is that it was walled in and so Residents were only allowed to leave during certain times of the day and they were not allowed to leave at night And when they were able to leave they had to wear something to denote where they came from So I believe women wore yellow veils and the men had to wear like a yellow piece of fabric on their hat So for dinner, we came to cantina and piscina And as an appetizer, we got a very classic roman dish. It is a fried artichoke Looks interesting It's crunchy And for the main course we got two pastas. This is a cheese and pepper pasta It has a fancier name, but I don't remember it and then this one's their tonnarello pasta Which is basically just pasta with meatballs. I hear their meatballs are really good. So i'm really excited about this one That place was absolutely delicious we got the two pastas One came with meatballs the meatballs were so tasty. They were like flavorful juicy tender. They're really good Yeah, they're really the best meatballs i've ever had and then we got the focaccia bread and then of course the pasta I don't know. What can I say? So When you get pasta at home, it comes in the box or at least in our home Yeah in america is usually you get it in the box and you cook it and it's soft and mushy here It's like al dente and it's i'm just really liking the al dente I didn't really ever know what al dente meant or if I liked it until this trip Because I don't think i've ever had homemade pasta before and it is amazing And now I want to find some italian friends that can cook homemade pasta for us back in the states It was so good and I really liked the fried artichoke thing. Adam was kind of skeptical But it kind of tasted like potato chips to me, which is probably not the best explanation But I mean anything that's fried is usually really good. So i'd say at least try it because it is kind of a local Cuisine item here. Yeah, give it a shot. But yeah, awesome dinner highly recommend that place now We're on the hunt for more dessert. Are you surprised? And the gelato taste test continues We are at Neve di Latte. It was a little bit of a walk from where we were. We hear it's really good And it's dripping. I got Pistachio, I got kind of like their just milk cream one and then I got nocciola which i've been calling it nokiola So I am sorry to anyone who's italian that i've been offending by how I pronounce that gelato. Whoops So they had three different types of chocolate. I got an 85 Which is right there I got the stracciatella and then I got the nocciola as well. And then he asked do you want whipped cream on there? That is always that is always a rhetorical question and I say yes So we got whipped cream on top this is Unreal though. So good I just tried the whipped cream. It's really good. Definitely tell it's homemade. Yeah collateral damage gelato damage Okay, now that we finished the gelato, what's the verdict? A plus. Yeah, that was extremely good I'm kind of torn though because I think I still like the one from earlier a little bit better I don't know. I give the edge to the other one, but uh, just just barely just by a nose This one was I think a little bit creamier and I loved the whipped cream And I still just loved like the tiramisu and the pistachio at the other one, but you couldn't go wrong at either They were both extremely good. Yeah, highly recommend both of them. Both of them had like Some crunchy bits in there and man this one had like several varieties of chocolate I already mentioned But man, they he let me try all of them, but they were all so good. This is the first one We got samples at yeah, I mean you can probably get samples. Yeah, I always I don't know I always just try to go for it, but this wasn't as busy. So I didn't feel bad Yeah, it's kind of I feel like it's tucked away a little bit Um, I feel like there are more locals here too. So that's always a win in our book. But yeah, check it out It's awesome We have a lot more gelato stops during our time in rome and also in florence So we're going to share a big recap at the end of all of our italy vlogs Which one was our favorite but I think for today the one from earlier has a slight edge Yeah, I think we're just getting into like the really really good ones, which today's two were really really good But I think like from now until the end of our trip, it's like just gonna boom. Boom. Boom. I'm ready So we just came over to aventine hill to go see the knights of malta keyhole which is if you google it It's this very famous image. Basically you look through this gate, which is owned by malta and through the keyhole You can see the saint peter's basilica perfectly and it's really really beautiful Unfortunately, our photos didn't turn out very well of it or video. It's kind of hard to photograph I needed definitely like a much more zoomed in lens, but our eyes could see it really well and it was really cool It's very popular. There was a really long line of people to go see it so It's kind of one of those things where you just go see it and leave and it's cool to see but it's not like You need to go like super out of your way to see it But we are also here to go check out a spot for sunset We just took a bus up here and it was really easy We bought like a 72 hour pass and we can take the bus the train everything for 72 hours Getting around here is awesome and we're loving the public transportation life So just steps away from the keyhole is a park called giardino degli aranci And it has a beautiful overlook of the city that we're gonna look at for sunset Yeah, we are lucky because it looks like it's a perfect sunset. It's a beautiful park. There's orange trees. The view is awesome Happy to be here. This is a really great way to end our first night. Yeah All right, that's the end to day one what a day we had it was awesome so excited to finally be here We saw so much cool stuff and it's just we have a lot more on tap We have a lot of food a lot of good stuff a lot of cool stuff to see this week is going to be awesome I'm, so excited to be here and i'm really excited to go to florence later this week, too But tomorrow we are going to the coliseum and I can't wait You